Grand Valley State University associate professor of political science Michelle Miller-Adams has been selected as the faculty fellow of the Russell G. Mawby Fellowships in Philanthropic Studies.

Miller-Adams will work with two undergraduate students to complete a study during the course of the fellowship. In her proposal to the Mawby Fellowships Selection Committee, Miller-Adams proposed a plan to compare philanthropic cultures and differences between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Her study will try to reveal why two similar communities have produced such different models of philanthropic behavior, and what are the implications of the different models for philanthropy and volunteerism in the broader communities.

Miller-Adams’ research will be undertaken in collaboration with Michael Moody, the Frey Chair for Family Foundations and Philanthropy at Grand Valley’s Johnson Center for Philanthropy; Teri Behrens, director of special projects at the Johnson Center; Grace Denny, graduate research assistant at the Johnson Center; and two undergraduate Mawby Fellows.

The Mawby Fellowships are named after Dr. Russell G. Mawby, who established the fellowships to help spread the study of philanthropy across the university, and with the intention that students would be engaged as co-researchers in every phase of the project work. Mawby is the Chairman Emeritus of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.